European venture capital firm Índico Capital Partners has unveiled its new investment vehicle, Indico VC Fund III, targeting €125 million to support early-stage technology companies across Southern Europe, with enterprise software, artificial intelligence and deep-tech innovation being their primary areas of interest. Indico’s new fund is the firm’s sixth since its inception and is a clear indication of its growing influence in Portugal’s rapidly expanding startup ecosystem.
The fund is off to a good start with a €30 million anchor investment by the European Investment Fund (EIF), which is part of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group. The EIF is a significant institution that supports the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises with high growth potential across Europe. The EIF’s commitment continues its partnership with Índico, as it has been a major limited partner in previous vehicles.
Índico Capital Partners was established in Lisbon and focuses on locating and developing tech ventures with worldwide potential, especially those coming from Portugal, Spain, and Italy. The new fund is also open to start-ups created by the Southern European founders who are now in major international innovation hubs like the United States and the United Kingdom.
Indico VC Fund III will be investing from the earliest stage till Series B, and as such, it will be seeking out companies offering solutions in enterprise SaaS, AI, deep-tech, fintech, cybersecurity, marketplaces, and other emerging sectors such as spacetech and oceantech – the latter being a burgeoning area of interest among European policymakers who are keen on promoting sustainable marine innovation.
The fund’s thesis matches the company track record. To date, Índico has deployed over €123 million across 53 portfolio companies since 2019, and these companies have in turn attracted more than €2.5 billion in follow-on funding from international investors. The venture firm has supported a number of notable Portuguese and Iberian scale-ups soundly, therefore, it has become the region’s increasing visibility among global venture networks.
Managing General Partner Stephan de Moraes called the EIF endorsement a vote of confidence to Índico’s ability to spot globally competitive teams and help them scale to foreign markets. He put the component of intelligent capital plus active operational involvement as the key to regional innovation to global category leadership.
“By leveraging the region’s top talent and bringing them into the international capital spotlight, we are strategically poised to identify and scale the best global companies,” de Moraes said. “We are shaping the next wave of European technological leadership with the aid of smart capital and on-the-job support.”
The EIF move aligns with EIB Group’s 2024–2027 strategic roadmap which places a heavy emphasis on technological innovation, digital transformation, and the fostering of future-ready industrial ecosystems. This deal is also supported by InvestEU, an EU framework aimed at raising investments worth more than €372 billion by 2027, and Portugal Blue, an initiative to accelerate the country’s blue economy by investing in ocean-related startups, SMEs, and mid-cap firms.
The decision to go with oceantech is quite reflective of the worldwide trend towards sustainable blue-economy technologies such as sustainable fisheries and marine robotics, and ocean observation platforms are positioning Portugal as an innovative hub given that it has a long Atlantic coastline and its national priority is marine industries.
The release comes as Southern Europe progressively manages to turn the eyes of venture investors on them given access to the highly skilled yet cost-effective engineering talent, startup community rapidly growing, and government and EU-level innovation strategies supportive. Particularly, Portugal has emerged as a hotspot following the establishment of Web Summit in Lisbon and a surge in international technology investment.
Indico VC Fund III, if the fund is successfully raised, will be one of the largest early-stage-funds in Portugal ever, thus, the country will play a more significant role in the innovation landscape of Europe and improve the access of founders to institutional capital who are often underserved by traditional investment networks.
As the money-raising process is ongoing, the focus will be on how fast the fund will be deployed and if it will be able to accelerate the appearance of Southern European tech giants that could compete globally – be it in artificial intelligence, space innovation, or sustainable marine solutions.